Learning Matters: Strengthening Core Competency and Communication Ability Learning

Program-Based Mini Grant Application for 2017-2018

LaGuardia has identified the Learning Matters Core Competencies to help every student, across majors, develop the capacities needed for success in 21st century education and career. Generated through a 3-year, college-wide process involving hundreds of faculty and staff, the Competencies and Abilities are recursively built, reinforced, and assessed in disciplinary majors as well as General Education courses.

The LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning is pleased to invite program directors and discipline faculty to apply for its 2017-18 Learning Matters Mini-Grants, which seek to support faculty engagement, design, and creativity to encourage student learning related to the three Core Competencies (Inquiry and Problem-Solving, Global Learning, and Integrative Learning) and the related Communication Abilities (Written, Oral, and Digital Communication). If you are interested in considering this opportunity to strengthen student learning in your area, please read this application and related materials.

In February 2017, 90 faculty participated in college-wide Benchmark Readings, utilizing faculty-generated rubrics to evaluate student development. College-wide scores are being finalized and will be distributed soon. Already, preliminary analysis revealed that, although highly significant progress has been made since our June 2016 Benchmark Readings, there is more work to be done to develop and broadly implement assignments that effectively build student learning in key areas.

The CTL is offering Mini-Grants of up to $7,500 to support program-led efforts to strengthen the integration of Core Competencies and Communication Abilities into courses and curricula. Program faculty (or teams of faculty teaching courses designated for depositing by the Liberal Arts chairs: see list below) who wish to apply should develop a year-long plan to design, test, and disseminate assignments that encourage the development of students’ Core Competencies and Abilities. Steps for achieving these goals, supported by mini-grant funds, are outlined below.

Requirements for Mini-Grant Applications:

1.  Curricular maps and courses designated for depositing will be reviewed to ensure alignment with program and course learning objectives;

2.  Program-based norming sessions and benchmark readings will be conducted with guidance from the college’s Assessment Leadership Team and the CTL.

3.  Teams will submit at least two fully revised assignments for the Learning Matters Assignment Library (see attached template).

4.  Teams will ensure that student work created in response to the revised or newly developed assignments will be deposited in the assessment area of the ePortfolio system.

5.  At least one team member will attend quarterly mini-grant leaders’ meetings, dates TBA.

For more detailed guidance, please see the Suggested Steps for Mini Grant Projects below and consider how these steps would be adapted and applied in your Mini-Grant project.

To apply, please complete this application and budget form and send them to Ros Orgel () by May 19, 2017.

LaGuardia Community College

2017-2018 Learning Matters Mini-Grant Application

Program/Department: ______Submitted by: ______

I. PROJECT DESCRIPTION (no more than 250 words): Provide a brief description of the need for this project. Consider the following questions: What has been done thus far? What still needs attention? What major objective do you hope to achieve by the end of your project?

II. GOALS AND OUTCOMES

Please complete the chart below indicating concrete and achievable goals, activities, and outcomes

Goals / Activities / Timeline / Measurable Outcomes/Evidence
List the course/s this grant targets, and whether or not they are marked for deposit on your program curriculum maps, as well as the specific Core Competency and/or Communication Ability addressed / Target courses: / Curriculum Map Yes/No: / Core Competency / Communication Ability
If known, please list the faculty who will participate, and the approximate number of hours involved. If names are not available, please indicate the number of faculty involved / Faculty who will attend: / Hours involved:

Please also submit a letter of support from your Program Director and Department Chair that:

1. Articulates how this Mini-Grant work fits into the long-term strategic vision for the program or department.

2. Affirms that he/she will: Consult regularly with you to learn about progress and share your work with the department; and provide time at departments meetings for sharing your work and outcomes.

Suggested Steps for Mini Grant Projects

Based on the experience of effective mini-grant projects in prior years, we strongly recommend a process for all Mini-Grant projects that includes these steps:

1.  In preparation for the project, review programmatic curricular maps that indicate the courses designated for the depositing of assignments addressing specific Core Competencies and Communication Abilities to ensure that both program and course objectives are well-matched to the designated Competency and/or Ability.

2.  Projects should begin by reviewing assignments created for these courses and determining the extent to which they explicitly address all dimensions of the designated Competency and/or Ability, as defined by the rubric. This process involves both carefully examining assignment/s and conducting norming and scoring sessions to evaluate the extent to which already deposited student work responds to the rubric dimensions. The college’s Assessment Leadership Team and the CTL will help with all norming and scoring, working together with you and participants in your project.

3.  Based on the results of these investigations, focus on the assignments that most need to be revised, and/or the steps needed to revise curricular maps to effectively associate course learning objectives and the Learning Matters Core Competencies and Abilities.

If assignments need to be revised, allocate time for revising and implementing assignments and then depositing student work. A second Benchmark Reading and scoring session later in the project can help determine the effect of the assignment revision.

4.  At the end of these processes, faculty should be assured that program, course, and learning objectives are well-aligned, and that assignments will result in work that effectively builds learning in the course and program as well as in the Core Competencies and Abilities, as defined by the rubric dimensions.

5.  Once assured that assignments are effectively addressing all dimensions of the Competency/Ability, faculty will be in a better position to evaluate students’ longitudinal growth with regard to the Core Competencies and Abilities. Program directors and course coordinators will also be able to share effective assignments with full-time and adjunct faculty to ensure that all members of the faculty understand the college’s assessment processes, are conversant with the rubrics and their dimensions, and can use and design assignments that build students’ skills and abilities.

Courses designated for depositing by Liberal Arts Chairs:

ELL101
ELN101
ENG101
ENG102
ENN198
HUC106
HUN192
HUN195
HUP104 / LIB200
LIF101
LMF101
MAT115
MAT117
MAT119
MAT120
MAT200
NSF101 / SCB115
SCB201
SCB202
SCB260
SCC201
SCC202
SCP201
SSN187
SSP200
SSS100

The Sample Timelines below are meant as suggestions. Please alter as needed to meet the goals of your Mini-Grant

Sample Timeline 1

Spring II 2017 / Fall I 2017 / Fall II 2017 / Spring I 2018 / Spring II 2018
-Review course and program objectives to determine effective alignment with Core Competencies and Abilities.
-Adjust curricular maps as needed.
-Conduct norming session and score student work deposited in Spring 2017.
- Analyze results to determine how effectively assignments address all dimensions of the rubric/s.
-Revise assignments in preparation for
Fall I 2017. / -Selected faculty include revised assignments in course syllabi.
-Students deposit work. / - Conduct norming session and score student work.
-Analyze results to determine how effectively assignments address all dimensions of the rubric/s.
- Revise assignments as needed. / -Selected faculty include assignments in course syllabi.
-Students deposit work. / - Conduct norming session and score student work.
- Analyze results to determine how effectively assignments address all dimensions of the rubric/s. If results indicate that assignments effectively address the rubric, process is completed. If not, continue revising and testing process.
- Prepare plan and budget for disseminating assignments as samples for full and part-time faculty to use in courses designated for depositing.

Sample Timeline 2

Fall I 2017 / Fall II 2017 / Spring I 2018 / Spring II 2018 / Fall 2018
-Review course and program objectives to determine effective alignment with Core Competencies and Abilities.
-Adjust curricular maps as needed.
-Conduct norming session and score student work deposited in Spring 2017.
- Analyze results to determine how effectively assignments address all dimensions of the rubric/s.
-Revise assignments in preparation for
Fall II 2017. / -Selected faculty include revised assignments in course syllabi.
-Students deposit work. / - Conduct norming session and score student work.
-Analyze results to determine how effectively assignments address all dimensions of the rubric/s.
- Revise assignments as needed. / -Selected faculty include assignments in course syllabi.
-Students deposit work. / - Conduct norming session and score student work.
- Analyze results to determine how effectively assignments address all dimensions of the rubric/s. If results indicate that assignments effectively address the rubric, process is completed. If not, continue revising and testing process.
- Prepare plan and budget for disseminating assignments as samples for full and part-time faculty to use in courses designated for depositing.